To George Washington from Major General Nathanael Greene, 11 July 1779
From Major General Nathanael Greene
New Windsor July 11th 1779
Sir
I inclose your Excellency a return of the Boats on and to the Westward of the Delaware.1 If your Excellency has any particular directions respecting them I shall be glad to receive them. I am with esteem Your Excellencys Most obedient humble Serv.
Nath. Greene Q.M.G.
ALS (facsimile), in H. DeForest Hardinge, “British Press Says Greene Rumored to Replace Washington as Commander,” Manuscripts 42 (Summer 1990): 225.
1. The enclosure was a “Return of the Schooners, Boats &c in the Boatdepartment,” dated 1 July and signed by Benjamin George Eyre (DLC:GW). The return showed 100 “Flat-bottom’d Boats” noted as “all new” stationed “At Middleton on the Susquehannah-river”; 2 “Schows” and 17 flat-bottomed boats, also all new, stationed “At Watkins’s ferry on Potomack-river”; and various craft at 13 other locations split among the Susquehanna, Schuylkill, and Delaware rivers, including Philadelphia. Among the totals were 4 schooners, 37 scows, 17 Durham boats, 134 flat-bottomed boats, 20 wagon boats, 4 bateaux, 4 skiffs, 1 wherry, 4 barges, and 7 rowboats. Some craft were listed as out of repair, and below the table is a notation that reads: “N.B. The Boats out of repair will be put in order immediately, as the people are now at work on them.” For additional remarks related to this return, see Eyre to Greene, 1 July, in 4:196.